Cellaring Success Stories

Bigfoot. Had a vertical recently and it was amazing ('06 - '12). The '06 was by far the best. Next was the '08, then '07, '09 to '12. I would recommend cellering this to anyone. Older the better, or smoother.

 

Dark Horse Plead the 5th and BooGoop are quite nice with 6 months - 1 year on them.

 

Cuvee van de Kaiser Blue. Great fresh, fantastic with some age.

 

Bells Third Coast Old Ale tasted very awesome with a year and half on it.

 

North Coast Old Stock Ale
J.W. Lee's Harvest Ale
Three Philosophers
Trappist Quads (which all seem to peak at different ages for my palate)
Bell's Expedition Stout
Anchor Our Special Ale

Those are some readily available (in most parts of the country) beers that have a proven track record if aged in good conditions (stable 45-55 degree temps, no light, little to no movement, normal humidity, etc...).

Cheers!

 

Lost Abbey Gift of the Magi was great with a year on it
Brrrrrrrrbon '11 I recently opened and was fantastic with about a yr on it.
KBS clearly. Several/too many to name. I actually can't think of a bad experience, there are some that I thought tasted better fresh, but overall the fun is in the experimentation. Most of the time its hard for me to decide which I liked better as with age the beers taste different and I like both.

 

Expedition goes through some of the biggest changes I've seen at different points in aging, all of which are excellent. I have some '07 and '10, and they're both fantastic.

 

Off the top of my head.

Burton Baton
Imortale
Old Stock Ale
Stone RIS
Bigfoot
Old Rasputian
Yeti
Thomas Hardy's
Orval
Rochfort 8 and 10
Chimay Blue
Old School Barleywine
Black Albert
Pannepot
Tsjesus

 

3 philosophers, Backwoods bastard, Bigfoot, and BCBS have all turned out great at 1, 2, and 3 years.

 

Founder's Curmudgeon's
Fuller's Vintage ale
Bigfoot
Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
ST Creme Brulee
DFH Old School BW
DFH Palo Santo Marron
Weyerbacher Insanity & Heresy
Brooklyn Monster ale
Just a few that I found age well. I've never aged any of them over 2 years though.

 

We did a blind tasting of Avery Czar 07-11. 4 out of 5 people picked 07 and 08 as there top two.

 

rats, i just gave a 2007 as an extra (in a trade that involved me giving up a 6 pack of zombie dust for a bottle of cbs. i guess he deserved it?)

 

I'm sure there are some bottles floating around somewhere. And if the trade is right you could snag one or two. If you can get older vintages do it.

 

i do have a 2003 victory old horizontal that i got as an extra that i am really wanting to open, but feel so bad to do so because its so old and really just want to hold on to it

 

I bought a 4-pack of Brooklyn Black Chocolate stout two years ago and was not a fan so I threw two bottles in the cellar. I've had one each of the last two years and it progress from Not good, to tolerable to really good in my opinion.

 

it doesn't get much love on here (at all), but 5 years on a 120m turns it into a beautiful thing. i'm also a fan of aged curieux, mephistophele's stout, most of founder's higher gravity offerings, and behemoth blonde barleywine - besides the founder's, i think aged versions overshadow fresh for everything else i listed here

 

cracked open a burton baton the other night, bottled 3 years and 1 week ago in 10/2009, cellared properly. amaaaazing!!! :: oprah voice ::

 

I've had some good ones but the two best I have experienced so far have been:

DFH Palo Santo Marron (almost 2 years)
Stone 10.10.10 Vertical Epic (also about 2 years)

I was surprised about the 10.10.10 because I didn't like it when it was first released, but with a couple years on it it was fantastic. The Palo Santo was one of the best beers I have ever had. Now I just need to track more down, its always hard to find in Tucson when I'm looking for it, the rest of the time its everywhere.

EDIT: I forgot Avery Mephistopheles as well. I bought it aged on the shelf so I can't compare to fresh, but it was fantastic. I think I had it in 2009 and it was bottled in 2006. I finally got another one last Xmas (its hard to find cause AZ lost Avery) but it was bottled in Nov 2011 so I refused to open it since the only one I had was 4 years old. It waits for my 30th bday in Nov 2015

 

La Trappe quad is amazing with 3 years on it. Dark lord 08 is fantastic right now. Iron fist velvet glove was great with a year on it (smooth chocolate milk!) gratitude is my favorite barleywine to age.